electronica 2010 confirms upward trend in the electronics industry

Munich, November 12, 2010. The number of visitors at electronica also remained at a constantly high level in 2010 with over 70,000 trade visitors. 2, 595 international exhibitors presented their products, solutions and services at the trade fair from November 9 to 12, 2010. Both exhibitors and visitors were extremely satisfied with the outcome of the event. 59% of exhibitors and 47% of visitors came from abroad to electronica 2010 in Munich and therefore once again confirmed the leading international character of the trade fair. The conference program started one day earlier on November 8 with the electronica automotive conference. The event was awarded very high marks by the participants.

Exhibitors from 45 countries came to the 24th electronica in Munich in 2010, thus again clearly accentuating its position as the international meeting-point for the electronics industry. The mood at the trade fair was characterized by the enormous upturn in the industry during the last few months. Exhibitors agreed that companies can expect stable growth in future and are banking on innovative future technologies.

Future of mobility at the electronica automotive conference

The electronica automotive conference also turned out to be a total success this year. 323 delegates from 23 countries attended this conference on November 8 and 9. A total of 1,281 exhibitors presented their products and services in the automotive exhibition segment – 559 of them with products and services relating to electromobility. The most important topics were therefore automobile electronics and electromobility. In addition to the exhibition segment and conference, the program was supplemented by the automotive Forum.

Just like in all areas of the exhibition segment, the topics of vehicle safety, energy efficiency and sustainability also dominated the program of the electronica automotive conference. The exhibition segment was characterized by a large number of components and systems for electric vehicles – from components for power electronics and charging stations through to electric scooters and electric cars. However, electromobility was not the only focal point. Attention was also paid to energy-saving components and systems in regard to vehicle lights and vehicle control.

Photovoltaics and renewable energies becoming more important

Alone in the area of photovoltaics, a total of 518 exhibitors presented electronic products for the management and monitoring of photovoltaic systems. The topic of renewable energies also generally played an important role during the trade fair. Exhibitors showed storage technologies for wind and solar power plants, components for power electronics, inverters and energy harvesting solutions for building services and industrial applications. Numerous talks during the electronica Forum also complemented the exhibition segment during the trade fair and provided information regarding the latest trends and developments on international markets.

Energy efficiency also became part of the trade fair itself. Entire stands were fitted with LEDs for the first time. The advantages compared with conventional lighting were that heat generation is reduced to a minimum and that energy consumption is also substantially lower.

More quality of life through advances in medical technology

Electronic applications in medical technology were also very well-represented with 1,156 exhibitors who displayed many innovations. They presented, for example, electronic components for the latest generation of intelligent prostheses, portable medical devices such as blood sugar testers and pulse meters, implantable blood pressure sensors and remote monitoring and control systems for heart pacemakers, and therefore demonstrated the contribution which medical electronics now already makes to the quality of life of many people and can continue to do so in future.

Supporting program of electronica 2010

In addition to the electronica automotive conference, the main features of the events program included the Wireless Congress 2010 and CARTS Europe 2010 which were supplemented by the trade fair forums. A total of 237 talks were given during the supporting program of electronica 2010.

One of the highlights was the traditional CEO Round Table during the trade fair. The CEOs of Infineon Technologies, Freescale Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics and NXP Semiconductors discussed the economic crisis in 2008 and 2009, its background and the impacts on the semiconductor industry under the motto “What lessons have we learnt from the crisis?”

The participants agreed that, in particular, leading companies in the semiconductor industry had purposefully invested in research and development during the crisis in order to make sure that they now emerged from the crisis in better shape. However, the participants also conceded that there were still delivery bottlenecks at times due to the enormous upturn in the last two months. In future these bottlenecks can only be avoided through closer cooperation between manufacturers and customers in order to match requirements at an even earlier stage.

Visitors extremely satisfied

Visitors were very satisfied with electronica 2010. In particular, they awarded very high marks regarding the completeness and breadth of the products and services, the internationality of exhibitors, the prime trade fair character of electronica and its leading role. electronica 2008 was rated very positively regarding these aspects, but visitors awarded even better marks at this year’s event.

97% of exhibitors rated electronica 2010 as excellent to good. 79% of them will definitely or probably attend electronica 2012 while 93% believe that electronica has a very large, large or medium advantage compared with other trade fairs.

The visitors came from a total of 115 countries. There was a marked rise in the number of visitors, for example, from Italy, France, the USA, China and Korea.